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Archive for: University Athletic Recruiting

College Athletic Recruiting


College Athlete Recruiting, College Recruiting, Athletic Recruiting, University Athletic Recruiting, Ivy League Athletic Recruiting

If you’re hoping to swim in college, compare your best times to the swimmers at the colleges you intend to apply to. That doesn’t mean you have to compare your times to Michael Phelps. That’ll only make you feel bad. So don’t do that (photo credit: JD Lasica).

One of the advantages of being a runner or a swimmer or even a golfer in the college athletic recruiting process is that applicants tend to know where they stand. As a male swimmer who goes a :58 in the 100 yard backstroke, his best event, isn’t going to get any attention at Division 1 swimming programs. In the Ivy League, the Harvard coach isn’t going to be interested in him and neither is the Dartmouth coach. Does that mean that this swimmer can’t swim in college? Not necessarily. There are certainly some universities where this applicant can pursue a college swimming career — likely just not in Division 1. A school like Brandeis or Middlebury might have interest, though even Middlebury might be a stretch.

As a high school basketball player, you may have some idea of where you stand with college coaches but it’s not as cut and dry as swimming or running. There aren’t times in basketball. You can’t just look at the data and see how you stack up. It’s hard to compare one applicant’s jump-shot against another. Sure, there are coaches who make a living doing this, but, for the student, it’s easy to think your jump-shot and agility are much better than that shooting guard at the rival high school.

So if you’re a swimmer or a runner, compare your best times to the times at meets for the universities you intend to apply to. If you’re a :56 100 yard breastroker and swimmers at Yale are going :55, :56, then you’d fit in really well. If you’re a 1:08 100 yard breastroker and swimmers at your dream school are going sub-:57, then you might want to seriously reconsider your plans on swimming at that college. Be realistic. Be objective. Scan through those meet results and you’ll see just where you stand in your dream school’s coach’s eyes.

While you’re here, check out this post on University Athletic Recruiting.

University Athletic Recruiting


“Forbes” ran an article a few days ago featuring an interview with Ted Spencer, Associate Provost and Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions at the University of Michigan. In the piece on university admissions, Mr. Spencer is asked how loud of a voice alumni and athletic coaches have in University of Michigan admissions decisions. Let’s take a look at his response on the topic of university athletic recruiting.

College Athletic Recruiting, College Recruiting, College Athlete Recruiting, University Recruiting

University athletic recruiting has an influence at schools like the University of Michigan, contrary to what the Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions might say (photo from "Sports Illustrated").

Says Mr. Spencer, “The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is contacted periodically by a variety of internal and external constituencies, such as high school counselors, alumni, faculty, and members of the athletics, development and government relations offices. This input is never the determining factor in admissions decisions; although it is appreciated as an additional point of information, which is considered along with dozens of other variables. We have no ‘special handling’ category, list, or procedure to influence admissions decisions about prospective students/applicants on whose behalf these informational contacts have been made.”

Really, Mr. Spencer? Outside constituencies like a basketball coach at the University of Michigan can’t ultimately determine an admissions decision? Did Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, and those two other guys in the Fab Five whose names always come up in trivia contests (Jimmy King and Ray Jackson) really all earn admission to the University of Michigan based on a variety of factors? Or were they admitted because they were some of the most talented basketball players in the country? We’ll let you decide.

Is college admissions at selective universities like the University of Michigan a holistic process? Yes. But that doesn’t mean one’s athletic talent can’t be a determining factor. Give us a break. University athletic recruiting has influence at a school like Michigan. Like it or not.